Life of A Young Demigod: Book 1 (Percy Jackson reader insert)

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The train ride was fairly uneventful. I saw a few strange things out the window on the ride there, a couple centaurs here, an oversized lion there, but nothing that felt like a threat to us. We arrived in St Louis in the afternoon of the second day of our train journey. June 13th. We had 8 days remaining until the solstice.

8 days to prevent a war that could destroy humanity. No pressure, (Y/N).

The conductor in our car told there would be a 3 hour layover. Annabeth started looking around excitedly upon hearing this. I turned to Percy, who told me she had mentioned wanting to go see the Arch.

"You guys think we have time?" I asked, to nobody in particular.

Annabeth looked like she was doing some math in her head, glancing towards a map of St Louis outside on the platform once or twice.

"Plenty!" She said excitedly.

Percy and Grover shared a quick glance, as did I and Andromeda.

Grover spoke first. "Alright let's do it."

We made our way over to the arch. It was only a block or so away, which made things a bit easier time wise. Before heading up to the observation platform, we went through a tunnel with some museum exhibits in it. As we entered, Grover began sniffing the air.

Percy turned to him. "What is it? You smell something?"

Grover kept sniffing. "Maybe... but it always smells like monsters when I'm underground."

I thought for a second. "Wait. If we are underground, and Hades is..."

Annabeth interrupted. "Don't say his name!"

I sighed. "Alright, well if our friend downstairs is lord of the underworld, are we in danger right now? More than usual, I mean."

Annabeth looked straight into my eyes. She could be terrifying when she wanted to. "Probably, yeah. Same is true anywhere that's dark, though."

I raised an eyebrow. "What? Why?"

Annabeth looked a bit disappointed in me for some reason. "His symbol of power, the Helm of Darkness. There's a little piece of him in every shadow. It's like a far more powerful version of my cap. Turns him invisible, and allows him to basically teleport to any shadow he wants to."

I shuddered. "That's... unnerving."

He could be here right now...

Grover looked a bit scared too. "Let's get out of here then."

As I got closer to the elevator, I began to get dizzy. It almost felt as if something was burrowing into my head. I thought that perhaps I was just hungry.

"Hey guys, my head isn't feeling great. Head on up without me, I'm gonna head outside and grab something to eat."

Andromeda looked at me, concerned. "I'll stay here with (Y/N). You guys enjoy it!"

The others looked concerned as well, but seemingly felt fine leaving me with Andromeda. As me and her headed out towards the exit, we passed a large woman with a small dog. Something about her seemed off, but I just dismissed it as my head messing with me. As we were about to head up the stairs, I suddenly heard a murmuring behind me. The words were... strange. Not Greek, but noticeably similar. Suddenly, my head began to spin violently, and I sat down for a second. As I did so, I began to hear words I could understand.

Finally we meet.

What? Who is...

SILENCE BOY. I do not have much time. You know they are using you, right? The Olympians. They do not care for you, they do not respect you. They do not even respect your mother. Abandon them. Leave the others to their fate. With me, you will be valued. You will be important.

Don't tell me to leave my friends. I don't even know who you are. I'm not going to abandon them for some mysterious voice in my head.

Think about your situation, boy. Think back to camp. Your mother is a powerful goddess. And yet she has no cabin. No respect. Not only at camp, but on Olympus too. They treat her like dirt, even though she is far more powerful and wise than most of them. You know this is wrong. Why fight for that world? Join me. Fight for something better.

I thought for a second. This voice had a point. Why didn't Hecate have a cabin? Why wasn't she on the council? Surely the goddess of magic is important enough to warrant a seat. Then I thought more about what the supposed solution was. Abandon my friends who had done nothing wrong, just to get back at their parents, who I have never met? That wasn't right. Percy had nothing to do with how my mother was treated. Neither did Annabeth, Andromeda, or Grover. Or anyone at camp. Even Chiron seemed to at least somewhat dislike the current status quo. I couldn't do what I was being asked to. I couldn't leave them.

No. The gods may be flawed, and deeply so at that. But I will not abandon my friends for what their parents have done. Leave. Now.

I tried to come off as more confident than I really was. I'm not entirely sure it worked.

Hmph. You will regret this choice one day boy. Mark my words. Now run along. Your so called friends need you.

I shook myself awake from my daze, the dizziness and voice gone.

Andromeda was shaking me, her eyes tearing up. "(Y/N)! Are you ok? You just... sat there for... for so long."

I looked around, I was outside now, sitting on a bench. The sun was starting to go down.

"I... I think Hades tried to speak to me. Tried to convince me to abandon you guys."

Andromeda's eyes somehow went wider. "And you... you refused?" She seemed even more concerned now.

"Of course I did. I'm not leaving you guys because some mysterious voice in a tunnel told me to. Now where..."

I was cut off by a loud explosion almost directly above me. I looked up, and saw a blast of fire blow through the top of the arch, presumably from the observation platform. My eyes went wide. At the same moment, the elevator dinged, and Annabeth and Grover came running out, alongside a throng of panicked tourists.

"Percy is still up there!" Screamed Annabeth, terrified.

We ran quickly over to the side of the Arch, and saw a figure fall from the hole. I had a bad feeling I knew who it was.

Annabeth screamed even louder. "NO! PERCY!"

He fell directly into the river, landing with a splash that reached several feet into the air. He couldn't have survived that. My head began to spin again. Not from dark magic this time, but from fear, regret, guilt, every horrible feeling you can possibly imagine. Percy was dead. And I could do nothing to save him.

We sat there on the bank of the river for a couple minutes. None of us could quite process what had just happened. Percy was dead. The quest was over. We had failed. As the police and news crews began to arrive, I suddenly heard a sloshing in the water behind me.

"Hey guys!"

No. It couldn't be. We all turned around at once, and there, climbing out of the river, was Percy, bone dry. He had somehow survived.

Annabeth ran up to him and hugged him incredibly tightly. "YOURE ALIVE! OH MY GODS I THOUGHT..."

Percy coughed a little. "Can't... breathe..."

Annabeth stumbled back, and I finally spoke. "What the hell happened?"

As Percy explained his encounter with the chimera, I heard an injured boy speak behind us.

"Mom! There was a kid! He jumped out of the Arch! He's right there behind you!"

My eyes went wide as I saw the boy's mother and a police officer turn to face us. I grabbed Percy and Annabeth. "We've got to go."

The two of them turned and saw what I was talking about, as the policeman began to walk towards us. We grabbed Andromeda and Grover, and ran.